Kevin Duffy: Matt Harvey's willing to talk, just not about baseball

Published 7:47 pm, Thursday, July 31, 2014

GREENWICH -- Matt Harvey arrives in dark jeans and black flip-flops, clutching a half-full iced coffee. There is golf to be played, sure, but first there are baseballs to be signed. So Harvey rests his coffee and scribbles his signature on a dozen or so balls at the annual Tim Teufel Celebrity Golf Tournament.

The event, in its 24th year, is nearly as old as Harvey, who hit the quarter-century mark in March. And there are celebrities here, of course. Always are. This year it's Dillon Gee and Jon Niese and Lee Mazzilli and former New York Giants punter Jeff Feagles.

But there are celebrities, and then there's Matt Harvey.

It's no stretch to say he's Connecticut's most famed professional athlete since Steve Young, who attended Greenwich High and won his first NFL MVP at age 31. Harvey was far ahead of that pace, or any other, really. Sports Illustrated cover in May. ESPN the Body issue in June. On the mound as the NL All-Star starter in July. Fourth in Cy Young voting by November, despite the fact that he hadn't pitched at all in the season's final month.

What everyone wants to know now: How's the rehab? When's he pitching again? Is he really aiming for a return this fall?

Which should make it no surprise that Harvey, on his way to an afternoon of golf, agreed to talk.

"Just not about baseball," he cautioned.

So Matt Harvey talked about golf. He's a little rusty; this is only the third time he's hit the links since undergoing Tommy John surgery in October.

"I used to play a lot with my dad," Harvey said. "And obviously as a starting pitcher, you get to play. You hear stories about the Glavine, Smoltz and Maddux days when they played golf every single day. You want to follow as a young pitcher and, hopefully, get a group of guys together."

Matt Harvey talked about what he's done in addition to rehab.

"I went to a couple of the Stanley Cup games at home and actually flew to Montreal to see (the Rangers) play the Canadians," Harvey said. "It was awesome. Just exciting to watch, exciting to be in New York for it."

Matt Harvey did not watch the destruction of Citi Field in last night's Sharknado 2, a made-for-TV movie that has gained improbable fame because of how terrible it is. And no, he didn't watch the MLB All-Star Game a few weeks ago. Probably because, for him, it was like Sharknado: Too tough to stomach.

Last month month, Harvey told The New York Daily News he wouldn't tune in for the Midsummer Classic because "it's just¦it's hard."

Perhaps that's why he'd rather talk golf, or hockey, or anything else. Or perhaps it's because he's slated to return soon, and he's learned that the spotlight can expand beyond control if he allows it to.

On Wednesday, Newsday reported that Harvey was given permission to throw on the mound for the first time since surgery. The paper noted that Harvey has been cleared for "quite some time," but the Mets have delayed the process.

Harvey told The New York Post this week that there are "tentative plans" for him to pitch in the Arizona Fall League. Still, he appears to be shooting for a Major League appearance in 2014, a highly unlikely scenario.

"If I'm going to pitch in Arizona, what difference does it make if I pitch there or pitch here?" Harvey told The Post.

The Mets seem intent on holding him out. Teufel, a Greenwich native and the Mets third base coach, said Thursday before his charity event began: "He's been throwing. I don't know if he's going to do it competitively, but I'm sure with Matt's drive, what he brings to the table with his work ethic, he's going to be ahead of schedule.

"I think that's what we always thought all along -- whatever the timeframe was for him, he's going to be ahead," Teufel continued. "I think it's great for him to have the offseason off and come right into next year and have a fresh start."

According to Teufel, Harvey has been around the team as often as possible. He wants to be in New York, not Port St. Lucie. At Thursday's event, he wanted to be around the guys -- Gee and Niese and pitching coach Dan Warthen.

Oh, and Teufel, too. They've always had a special connection.

"We're Nutmeggers," Harvey said.

This, Harvey will talk about. In his year-long absence, Connecticut baseball continues to make waves. George Springer of New Britain is in the midst of a monster rookie campaign in Houston. Mike Olt of Branford hit 12 home runs with the Cubs before being demoted to the minors. New Canaan's Curt Casali made his Major League debut with the Rays two weeks ago. And Norwich's Eric Campbell, who played with Harvey in Little League, was called up by the Mets in May.

Yes, Connecticut is on the map.

"I think it's the toughness," Harvey said, "In Connecticut, you obviously don't get to play as many games as other places in the country, so you have to work hard and go through some adversity and I think once you get past that, you have a lot of fun and you gain an edge and a toughness comes from that."

"We're doing our best," Harvey added, "to show that the small state of Connecticut is a powerhouse in baseball."